This week’s winning entry, which came from Wisconsin’s Trevor Greene, focused on how Overeem’s and Edgar’s losses couldn’t be more different.

For his winning entry, Trevor receives a free one-year subscription to “Fighters Only” magazine, the world’s leading MMA and lifestyle magazine.

Trevor – as well as runners-up Denver King and Kane Smith – also win DVD copies of the MMA-themed comedy “Here Comes the Boom.”

Want to submit to next week’s edition of The Sunday Junkie? Scroll to the bottom of the page for instructions.

Also, as a reminder, please be sure to include your hometown and stick within the 150-word limit (and include your submission in the body of an email, not in an attachment). Many quality submissions this week didn’t meet those minimum guidelines and couldn’t be considered for publication.

(Pictured: Alistair Overeem)

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OVEREEM AND EDGAR SHOW DIFFERENT DEGREES OF LOSING

It’s difficult to explain how different Frankie Edgar’s loss was compared to Alistair Overeem’s at UFC 156, but it can be summed up with one concept: mindset. Edgar has lost three straight fights, but he is still looked at as a champion because of his hard work and heart. Not to mention one can argue that he won each of those fights. This is while Overeem lost his first fight since 2007, but his loss will be looked at as a lot different than Edgar’s because of his attitude. Overeem called his fight against Antonio Silva a “warmup fight,” and he fought like he was only warming up. Not to take anything away from Silva’s miraculous victory, but Overeem lost because he was cocky and careless. UFC 156 proved that losing isn’t a black and white concept.

Trevor Greene
Milwaukee, Wisc.

MOVING TO 145 COULD BE A BAD MOVE FOR PETTIS

Following UFC 156 on Saturday night, word quickly spread through the Twitterverse that Anthony Pettis texted Dana White afterward, saying he wants to move down to 145 pounds and fight champ Jose Aldo. While that would be a seemingly fantastic fight and one I would love to see, I’m not sure it is a great career choice for “Showtime.” Right now, he has a title shot at lightweight practically sitting in his lap, with the winner of Benson Henderson vs. Gilbert Melendez, two fighters who I think Pettis has a great chance of beating. But a fight against the 145-pound champ could doom Pettis. If he loses to Aldo, then what? Surely he can’t just move back up and still expect a title shot. Plus, there are a few other worthy candidates to get a shot at Aldo’s belt (Chan Sung Jung, Ricardo Lamas, and Edgar II of course), so why complicate things more?

Denver King
Glen Burnie, Md.

RISKY FIGHTS DOOM UFC’S TITLE PLANS

Title contenders just continue to fall. Michael Bisping was one win away from solving the Anderson Silva opponent puzzle before Vitor Belfort’s shin silenced that talk. Alan Belcher was controlled for three rounds as he fell out of title talk. Erik Koch lost his No. 1 contender’s spot when he was derailed by Ricardo Lamas. Alistair Overeem blew his title shot as he was knocked out cold by “Bigfoot” Silva. It was the same night Rashad Evans, who was a potential opponent for Anderson Silva, looked absolutely flat against “Lil Nog” as he surrendered a potential title fight. The thing that most of these fights have in common (excluding the Lamas fight) are that they are extremely dangerous for the UFC. These fights have top contenders fighting guys who aren’t anywhere close to contention (at the time) or have already had a shot. Cain Velasquez lost what we thought was an automatic opponent as the middleweight division rids itself of three contenders leaving only Chris Weidman for now. All in all, a lesson is to be learned for both fighters and fans. That lesson is to never overlook your opponent and finish the job.

Kane Smith
Harrodsburg, Ky.

IT’S TIME FOR EDGAR TO STEP ASIDE

Another five-round title fight. Another decision. Another loss. Frankie Edgar came up short again. No pun intended. He has cardio. He has game. He has toughness. He has heart. He is entertaining. He’s just missing that key element that makes for a great champion: consistent, decisive, exciting victories. I stress decisive. Now that Jose Aldo has put Edgar away in his featherweight debut, I hope Dana White does the same, at least for a while. Let’s turn our focus to the champions and the top contenders not named Edgar in the featherweight and lightweight divisions for a while. He had his chance, or should I say many chances to shine. Time for Frankie to take a bow and let some fresher faces take center stage.

George “The Animal” Morris
Fort Walton Beach, Fla.

OVEREEM AND EVANS COULD LEARN FROM ALDO

Before Saturday night, an endless amount of hype was bestowed upon both Alistair Overeem and Rashad Evans. Both entered their main card fights at UFC 156 knowing a win would likely carry weight in securing title shots (Overeem at heavyweight, Evans at middleweight in a potential superfight with Anderson Silva). Coincidentally, Jose Aldo had been reiterating a change in weight class might be forthcoming despite his featherweight title win over Frankie Edgar. It turns out that while Aldo shined on the big stage, both Evans and Overeem flopped emphatically, with Overeem being laid out by “Bigfoot” Silva and Evans losing a striking battle to Antonio Rogerio Noguiera. While it’s novel to be promised a world championship fight, you feel there might have been added pressure to both Evans and Overeem. And it goes to show, despite what the future holds, the saying of “never looking past your next opponent” rings true.

Edward “MMArmaggeddon” Hitchins
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

LIGHTWEIGHTS NEED TO EARN FEATHERWEIGHT TITLE SHOTS

A lightweight dropping to featherweight in order to try to take the featherweight belt is an attractive draw for fans. Hell, I honestly have to say, I enjoyed Jose Aldo vs. Frankie Edgar. However, now Anthony “Showtime” Pettis wants to drop down, cut the line, and take on the featherweight Champ. This just seems extremely disrespectful to all the contenders (in which there are plenty) in a decently stacked featherweight division. (Obviously pending some results) top-tier contenders such as Cub Swanson, Chan Sung Jung, Dennis Siver and Chad Mendes are walking around in limbo, taking fights where they have more to lose than gain. Up-and-comers such as Rony Jason and Hacran Dias, as well as the probable few fighters who will drop after coming over from Strikeforce, are going to remain in the pool, continuing to step to the side instead of forward toward a title shot they should rightfully earn, fighting in their division. The guys dropping down from lightweight should do the same.

Sean Cowley
Hong Kong

ANDERSON SILVA WAS UFC 156’S BIGGEST LOSER

The UFC brought us another great event on “Super Saturday” with UFC 156. Officially there were 11 winners and losers, but the biggest loser wasn’t even at the show. Middleweight champ Anderson Silva and his camp have been trying their best to delay an inevitable showdown with Chris Weidman. They would have accepted Michael Bisping, but he received his worst knockout loss since Dan Henderson at the hands and feet of Vitor Belfort a week ago. They would have accepted Rashad Evans, but he lost and looked as bad as we’ve ever seen him at UFC 156. Belfort found himself on the wrong end of a highlight-reel KO when he had his chance, and seems more interested in a rematch with Jon Jones anyway. It seems all but guaranteed that Silva will have to accept a fight he doesn’t want (for whatever reason), and that’s why last night he was the biggest loser of UFC 156.

Carl Dominguez
Las Vegas, Nev.

EDGAR WORTHY OF REMATCH

Over the past few years, Frankie Edgar has fought the best competition in a division in which he has given up a tremendous size advantage. After finding what many would consider his rightful home at 145 pounds, Saturday night he challenged Jose Aldo for the featherweight title at UFC 156. Aldo came out and seemed to pick apart Edgar early in the fight, but it seemed Edgar had found some pep in his step midway through the fight by using his great cardio to persevere, and from the fourth till the end, he appeared to have won out the rest of the rounds. The fight was awarded to Aldo, and maybe rightfully so. But the score cards were 49-46, 49-46 and 48-47. These scores may not reflect Edgar’s exceptional effort, and he should be considered for a rematch with Aldo.

Andrew Walters
Coral Springs, Fla.

OVEREEM’S WASTED TALENT

Alistair “Overrated” Overeem could have been an exciting addition to the UFC heavyweight title picture, but after stubbing his toe on the way out of the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix, he has become a heavyweight cautionary tale. First, he was suspended for a year due to a failed drug test after body kicking an intestinal-disease patient to smithereens. Then he spends the year complaining and campaigning for a UFC title shot and gets a title eliminator due to a timing issue (since the title was defended recently). Finally he gets a chance to secure a shot at the strap and disrespects his opponent by leaving his hands down, clowning/smiling and blocking punches with his face, and then gets smashed by someone he believes isn’t good enough to be in the cage with him. Unfortunately, Overeem’s talent is wasted because of his bad attitude, and I don’t think he will ever be champ.

Joshua Smith
Columbus, Ohio

WITH HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION IN DISARRAY, PREPARE FOR GOOD FIGHTS

On Saturday at UFC 156, we witnessed another possible No. 1 contender train get derailed. Like Michael Bisping in his previous fight, Alistair Overeem was all but guaranteed a title shot with a victory. “Bigfoot” Silva had other plans. After controlling most of the fight, “The Reem” started to fade in the third, and Silva took advantage by crumpling him. Is it the pressure from the possible title shot that is getting to these guys? Or just the step up in competition? Whatever it is, it makes it harder to set up a title shot with no clearcut No. 1 contender. Where does the heavyweight division go from here? We’ve all seen what happened when “Bigfoot” took on Cain Velasquez. And after what happened to Junior Dos Santos in his most recent fight, I’d say he is still a fight away from rematch. So now that Velasquez could be getting an extra long vacation, we can all sit back and watch some incredible heavyweights battle it out for that No. 1 contender spot.

“The Hammer”
Ontario, Canada

BRAZILIANS EARN RESPECT AT UFC 156

One wonders why Brazil has become synonymous with success inside the octagon. This is a mystery no longer following the events at UFC 156. The notable victors of UFC 156 had two things in common: 1) They were Brazilian, and 2) They did not underestimate. Favorites such as Jon Fitch, Alistair Overeem, Rashad Evans and Frankie Edgar seemed to overestimate their own abilities and all suffered surprising losses to Demian Maia, Antonio Silva, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Jose Aldo, respectively. Such fighters with reputations of “title challengers” should stop counting their chickens before they hatch as was the case at UFC 156. Fitch, Overeem, Evans and Edgar all appeared overly confident in their pre-fight interviews, and they displayed this in the form of complacency on the canvas. These prima donna fighters ought to take a page out of the perpetually respectful mindframe of Brazilian fighters rather than spend their training days visualizing Bruce Buffer calling their names.

Darragh Murphy
Cork, Ireland

TYRON WOODLEY IS NO JOKE

When it was announced that Strikeforce had came to an end of an era, there were many names people were excited to watch fight, none more so than Tyron Woodley, whose only defeat had came at the hands of UFC veteran Nate Marquardt. If there were any doubt of Woodley’s credentials prior to his octagon debut, despite defeating Strikeforce standouts Paul Daley and Tarec Saffiedine, his transition to the UFC will have put the division on high alert. Woodley is a huge welterweight with devastating power and explosiveness, which saw him destroy Jay Hieron in outstanding fashion, knocking him out in 36 seconds in his octagon debut at UFC 156. At only 30 years old, Woodley has plenty time to rise to the top of the division. Judging by his latest statement, it won’t take him very long to establish himself as a future title contender.

David Lambert
County Durham, U.K.

UFC 156 PROVES MY LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH MMA

I love MMA. However, I become jaded when certain events tarnish the sport. I become jaded when referees make hasty calls. I become jaded when judges make impetuous, incorrect decisions. I become jaded when arrogant fighters showboat by showing disdain for their opponents by holding their hands by their sides. Then, I rediscover why I love MMA. A conceited fighter like Alistair Overeem underestimates “Bigfoot” Silva in a feat of massive ego and pays the price. In exuberance, I exclaim my love for MMA once again! Then Jose Aldo displays his dominance for two rounds and then fades against Frankie Edgar for the final three. I hate the judges and chastise their decision to rule that damage to Edgar’s face takes precedent over round-by-round tactics. I hate you MMA, but I love you just the same. See you fight night!

Greg Yanke
Chandler, Ariz.

JUDGES NEED A LESSON IN BASIC MATH

Frankie Edgar won Rounds 3, 4 and 5 in his title “losing” effort against champ Jose Aldo on Saturday at UFC 156. FightMetric says he outstruck Aldo in all three of those rounds. He also scored a couple takedowns, if the striking stats weren’t enough. I totally agree that Aldo did more damage and landed the more devastating strikes, and if this were PRIDE, I think Aldo should have won since PRIDE judges scored the full fight as a whole instead of round by round. But this isn’t PRIDE, this is the UFC, and winning rounds matters – unless you’re Frankie Edgar, who got robbed of yet another title fight victory. Since when is three-fifths not a majority?

Brady Leonard
Toledo, Ohio

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